Another Hikaru Book I Don't Have: P-Can Island

 

P-Can Island is another Hikaru book I don't have nor know too much about. 

I mentioned this before, but seeing Hikaru with her Short Boy cut always unnerves me as I've always known her with long hair, LOL

BOMB Magazine 1995

I had initially picked up this 1995 issue of idol magazine BOMB because it contained a nice pictorial of CoCo Member Rieko Miura, but I was pleased to discover that it also contained a nice set with Hikaru!

As these behind the scenes pics show, Hikaru was in the middle of shooting "Natsu! Depart Monogatari", the comedy with TOKIO's Tatsuya Yamaguchi that featured her song "C'mon,C'mon,C'mon" as the ending theme!

BOMB really was CHOCK full of good stuff for the budding J-pop/Idol enthusiast!

Shonen Sunday 1992.12

 

Shonen Sunday 1992

 

An Afternoon ripping my Hikaru Nishida CD singles.

Spent a pleasant afternoon ripping my Hikaru Nishida 8cm singles into MP3s. When I first got my Ipod, the Nishida Hikaru CDs were among the first CDs to get the MP3 treatment, but I didn’t get around to digging out the singles until now. I’d put it off for as long as I ccould, but there were a few singles (like fave song Melody, et al) that didn’t appear on any of her albums proper, and I really needed to get those onto my player! Not only that, but one of the great things about those old Pony Canyon singles was the fact that most of them were BACKED by songs that weren’t featured on any of her albums either, and some of them were pretty darn awesome!
One thing that struck me as I was taking them out of their cases and ripping/scanning them was just how BEAUTIFUL some of the covers were! Hikaru was an idol of the highest degree, of course, and the photographers always made the very most of each shoot, producing some of the prettiest covers ever! Here are scans of just a few of my faves.
Besides the covers, some of the CD singles had cute little bonuses like cards and (in one strange instance) an unusual “Hikaru All- Access Pass”(!) What in the world was this supposed to give me aceess TO?! Ahahahahaa! Some cd singles even seemed to be given the “deluxe” treatment, and in particular, the CD single for Hikaru’s single “Tokimeite” had this elaborate fold out cover with pretty pictures of Hikaru throughout, packaging that made one wonder if Pony Canyon was making any money on the sale of these singles after spending so much on the presentation!

When I got into Hikaru Nishada (around 1996), I was lucky enough to get all her albums (at that point she had just released the awesome “2-4”) 90% of her concert videos, and about 80% of her singles, as well! If memory serves, I think that by the time I discovered the Used J-Pop CD store Otokichi Preium, I only needed to get two or three singles (and one concert) to complete my Hikaru Nishida collection!

In 1994, Pony Canyon released a CD collection called “The Very Best Of Hikaru”, which featured many of the elusive B-sides like Koi Wa Shiroi T-Shirt and Truth, but a single CD just wasn’t enough space to cover them all, not to mention all the singles and b-sides that came out after 1994! So tracking down the actual singles seems to be the only way to get em all! Besides, when the CD packaging and artwork is so nice, it really makes it worth the effort!

Hikaru ‘s last album release was the sweet “Love For All Seasons”, and her last single was “Sorairo”, way back in 2000, almost ten years now! She left the biz for a bit to get married and raise her family and though we’re extremely happy for her, we’re still waiting for her to stop by again with some new tunes!

Favorite Hikaru Singles: Watashi No No.1~ You're the Only One~

A Svelte and SEXY Hikaru belting out the SASSY "Watashi No no.1" off of her album two-four:

.

Oh My look how SLINKY she is here....Same outfit she was wearing in the PV, oh my heart..

I remember back in the day, the ONLY live performance I ever saw of Hikaru doing this song was for some special where she sang to a sumo wrestler who looked on with mild boredom, LOL...

this perf is MUCH better!!!!

Nishida Hikaru Video Clips "HIKARU"

 
Part 2 of Hikaru's best and only (at the time) PV Collection was called "Hikaru Video Clips Since 1993, and featured:

１．涙 止まらない

２．きっと愛がある

３．人生変えちゃう夏かもね

４．C'mon³!

５．Go! Paradise

６．私のNO.1 ～You're the only one～

Along with her PVs, the video was filled with CMs and promo clips for her singles, and, as I've mentioned many times before, in the promo for Kitto Ai ga Aru, Hikaru actually rode her bicycle right past the old apartment where I was living at the time!

So crazy- If you look here in this screencap, see the window on the second floor? That's my apartment and that's my air conditioner for my bedroom!! If only I'd looked out the window at the time!

I moved out of there some time ago and the last time I drove by it, the entire Apartment had been gutted and renovated and turned into a bank!

Nishida Hikaru Video Clips: "NISHIDA"

As I had mentioned before, my introduction to Hikaru performing was through a Japanese broadcast of "Music Fair" where she did her single "Melody" as well as a medley of oldies. After that, I managed to get my hands on her back catalog of music (and fell in love instantly), but I had never seen any of her music promotion videos until I got hert twin VHS set "Hikaru Nishida Video Clips". Part One was called "Nishida" Video Clips Since 1988 and featured:

１．フィフティーン

２．Nice-Catch!

３．Natural Summer days

４．オーマイゴッド!!だね

５．ときめいて

６．生きてるって 素晴らしい

７．輝き! ください

Hikaru BOMB Cover 1995

 

Ah, BOMB Magazine, truly the bible of generations of fanboys for decades!!

Namida No Pearl Moon

Single "Namida No Pearl Moon", off of Hikaru's Tokimeki No Prologue"

Favorite Nishida Hikaru Singles "Namida Tomaranai"

 

One of my all-time favorite songs from Hikaru and possibly the very first PV I remember loving, off of her excellent VHS Video Clip NISHIDA/HIKARU which combined Hikaru's videos with CMs and promo clips.

Already a fave song off of her SUN DANCE album, seeing her passionately singing the song against the backdrop of flowers, it became even BETTER and from that point on I would always picture those images in my head when i'd listen to the album later!

西田ひかる- 涙止まらない

A太陽もひとりぼっちね

青空を見上げて思った

君と泳いだあの夏の日

よみがえるのよ”でも帰れない"

泣かないで涙が止まらないのに

どうして素直になれなかったの

ほほえみに着替えて 待ってみたいの

夏はもう来てる そこまで

もしもあなたが恋を失くして

帰り道さえ失くした時には

思い出してあの約束

振り返らずに歩こういつも

なかなかね 涙が止まらないのは

そうとう眩しい 思い出だから

"さみしい"と一言いったあなたの

心のふるえが伝わるの

太陽もひとりぼっち

夏はきっと悲しい季節

どうしても 涙が止まらないなら

ちょっぴり素直になればいいだけ

ほほえみに着替えて 待ってみたいの

夏はもう来てる そこまで